Top 10 Area Football Rankings For Minnesota (Week 3)

The top seven spots in the Minnesota high school rankings for the area held strong in Week 2, but the bottom three had some shuffling and could be changing a lot in the coming weeks.

1. Mahnomen (2-0)

Last week: 42-14 win at Red Lake County

Next up: Host Frazee (2-0), 7 p.m., Friday

The Indians made it 16 straight, nearly quadrupling Red Lake County’s total yards. Mahnomen had 368 total yards on offense to Red Lake County’s 100. This being the same Red Lake County team that put up 44 points in a Week 1 win over Prairie Valley.

Indians have a triple threat in the run game in Austin Reitan, Bob Bjorge and Trevor Haugo. Of those 368 total yards, 338 of them came on the ground with Reitan getting 88 yards and three TDs, Bjorge getting 67 yards and two TDs and Haugo adding 66 yards.

2. Detroit Lakes (2-0)

Last week: 40-6 win over Crookston at home

Next up: Host Thief River Falls (2-0), 7 p.m., Friday

DL quarterback Michael Herzog has rushed for 240 yards and eight touchdowns on 21 carries in two games this season. DL takes on TRF in a battle of undefeateds.

3. Hawley (2-0)

Last week: 42-12 win over Warroad at home

Next up: Pelican Rapids (1-1) at Pelican Rapids, 7 p.m., Friday

Chris Buttke (34) had five rushes for 75 yards and a touchdown in Hawley’s Week 2 win.

The Hawley offense is as frustrating to defenses as a high school offense can be. Jordan Harms and Ben Ellefson can and will both line up at quarterback and throw to one another to go along with both having the ability to run the ball. If that doesn’t work, pick your poison with four other Nuggets that can run the ball, including senior Chris Buttke.

The Nuggets will have their hands full this week with Pelican Rapids Ryan Bruggeman, who ran for 310 yards and four touchdowns on just 11 carries last week versus a good Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton defense.

4. Perham (2-0)

Last week: 47-0 win over East Grand Forks at home

Next up: Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton (1-1) at Glyndon, 7 p.m., Friday

Perham walked over East Grand Forks in Week 2

Running back Payton Jordahl and quarterback Eli Beachy have scored 62 of Perham’s 83 points this season. Yellowjackets have a tough one against a good D-G-F defense led by Chad Johnson, who are coming off a rough 28-22 loss to Pelican Rapids.

5. Wheaton-Herman-Norcross (2-0)

Last week: 38-7 win over Ortonville at Ortonville

Next up: Underwood (1-1) at Wheaton, 7 p.m., Friday

W-H-N just beat a Ortonville team by 31 that Underwood beat by just one in Week 1 on the road. W-H-N running back Carter Thiel has six rushing TDs in the first two weeks, running for four against Ortonville on 15 carries to go along with 154 yards. He also added nine tackles on defense.

Blake Fetting, Lance Ruebke and JD Kappes can each pretty much do anything on offense for Ada-Borup. Fetting has 214 yards and five TDs on 21 carries and Ruebke has seven receptions for 200 yards and three TDS in the first two weeks of the season.

7. Barnesville (2-0)

Last week: 42-6 win over New York Mills at home

Next up: Long Prairie-Grey Eagle (1-1) at Long Prairie, 7 p.m., Friday

Michael Strand and Alex Trowbridge each had two rushing TDs in Week 2. Strand is tough to handle on his own, so if the Trojans add another back in the mix, they could be even scarier.

8. Verndale (2-0)

Last week: 44-13 win over Underwood at home

Next up: Bertha-Hewitt (0-2) at Bertha, 7 p.m., Friday

Verndale has outscored opponents 94-19 in the first two weeks and dismantled a solid Underwood team in Week 2 to make its first appearance in the rankings. Dillon Card was incredible in Week 2. He rushed for 193 yards, including touchdown runs of 50, 40 and 6 yards, and threw two touchdown passes. The Pirates will be on the road for the first time in Week 3.

9. Norman County East-Ulen-Hitterdal (2-0)

Last week: 36-0 win over Norman County West

Next up: No. 6 Ada-Borup (2-0) at Twin Valley, 7 p.m., Friday

Norman County East-Ulen-Hitterdal has outscored opponents 85-6 in the first two weeks to make its first appearance in the rankings. Those two opponents, however, are 0-4, so NCE-U-H gets their first real test against Ada-Borup.

10. Moorhead (1-1)

Last week: 27-20 loss to St. Cloud Apollo at St. Cloud Apollo

Next up: Grand Rapids (0-2) at home, 7 p.m., Friday

Moorhead’s Jade Lawrence (2) had a big game in Week 2, but it was not enough for a win.

Moorhead falls from the nine spot. The Spuds were competitive with a good St. Cloud Apollo team and Jade Lawrence is seemingly getting the hang of this running back thing, rushing for 216 yards on 16 carries, including touchdown runs of 56 and 78 yards.

Knocking on the doorPelican Rapids (1-1)– Fought Perham, knocked off D-G-F, if Pelican Rapids beats Hawley this week, it will be hard to keep them out of the top 10.

Frazee (2-0) – With wins over Bagley and Fertile-Beltrami to start the season, it would be hard to ignore Frazee any longer if they top No. 1 Mahnomen this week.

D-G-F (1-1) – It could be a short time away from the top 10 for the Rebels if they beat Perham this week.

Chris Murphy can be reached at 701-241-5548 or cmurphy@forumcomm.com. Follow him on Twitter @SeeMurphsTweets for Minnesota prep updates and smart alecky remarks about sports, movies, music and life in general.

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Chris Murphy has been a sports reporter for the Forum since 2012. He's covered high school sports in Chicago, North Dakota and Minnesota since 2009 and, for some reason, has been given awards for doing so.